For the Whole of Time

Known fact: Mom's have eyes in the back of their head.  And not just when your little.  Recently my mom was whipping up some of our family recipe "Christmas Salad":  Cool Whip, Pudding Mix, and Mandarin Orange goodness.  As she went to the cupboard to get a container for the finished product, back turn towards me, I stuck my finger in the mix for a tiny taste.  Without missing a beat or turning around, "Brianna, get out of the Christmas salad!"  The only possible explanation: those mysterious hidden eyes in the back of her head.  She is always watching me.  hehe.

But even more than that, she is always caring for me.  Even when I lived over 1200 miles away, her affection was apparent.  From the numerous phone calls to the nice care packages to the surprise visits.  She was always thinking of me, caring for me, loving me.

1 Kings 9:3 - The Lord said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually."

Solomon had just finished the dedication of his infamous temple.  This was God's response.  Isn't it wonderful? 

Thanks to some wonderful commentaries, I was able to see how drastically this applies to you and I.  Today, we don't have a dwelling place for God.  The church is simply a building for our community to come together as one body in order to worship the one true God.  Today, God dwells within us, we are God's living temple: 

1 Corinthians 3:16 - Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 6:19 - Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 

Just as the temple was consecrated, so we have been consecrated)  If we "apply [this verse] to persons, the living temples...have His eye, His heart, His love and care...perpetually" (Henry).  As His temple, we have His eyes, "[His] watchful and gracious providence" and His heart, "[His] tender affection" or love and care as Henry puts it (Wesley).  And all of this we have forever and always!  'Perpetually' is actually translated from two separate Hebrew words, kol, meaning "the whole" and yowm, meaning "time" (Strong's H3605, Strong's H3117).  So we have God's watchful and gracious providence as well as His tender love and care for the whole of time.  Neat to think about isn't it?

I challenge you today to rest in the beauty of this truth.  Whatever baggage you are carrying whatever mountain you are climbing, lay it at His feet and rest in His presence.  We don't do that often enough.